1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicles, and more specifically to a vehicle including a rear stabilizer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is proposed a variety of off-road vehicles (e.g., Recreational Off-Highway Vehicles (ROVs)).
For example, US2012/0217078A1 discloses a vehicle which includes a pair of front wheels, a pair of rear wheels, a frame, and an engine. The rear wheels are supported by the frame via suspensions.
The suspensions which support the pair of rear wheels include a pair of upper alignment arms, a pair of lower alignment arms, and a pair of shock absorbers. The pair of lower alignment arms are connected to each other by a torsion bar. In this vehicle, the torsion bar serves as a rear stabilizer.
In the vehicle disclosed in US2012/0217078A1, the torsion bar passes behind the pair of shock absorbers. For this reason, the torsion bar can be exposed to external forces from the rear of the vehicle. An external force applied to the torsion bar can reduce the rear stabilizer function of the torsion bar.
One way to protect the torsion bar from external forces is to dispose the torsion bar in front of the pair of shock absorbers. However, in the vehicle disclosed in US2012/0217078A1, it is not possible to dispose the torsion bar in front of the pair of shock absorbers since the engine blocks the route for the torsion bar. In order to dispose the torsion bar in front of the pair of shock absorbers, the engine and the pair of shock absorbers must be spaced from each other in a fore-aft direction. In this case, the vehicle's dimension in the fore-aft direction must be increased.